Is it official, or just impressive homebrew?
ASSEMbler games motto is that they “seek the long forgotten, the long lost, the broken, the hidden. We seek out what was forgotten and repair, compile, dump and recover so that it may shine again in the eyes of the world.” In practical terms, that means they dig up unreleased games and preserve them so the general public can see them. And today, ASSEMbler Games forum member ProtonX has dug up a curious find: An Xbox 1 Devkit with a game apparently named “Sonic Extreme”. But hold back thoughts of the Sega Saturn and fish-eye lenses, because this game bares little resemblance that platformer:
(Can’t see the video? Click here)
Immediately flags were raised that this might just be a homebrew effort made up by some passionate Sonic fan, but as ASSEMbler forumer arnoldlayne notes:
Looks a bit too polished for a homebrew effort (that possibly flew under the radar)
I’m no expert but that looks legit to me, the next step would be to preserve it before the hard drive dies!
It’s possible we’re looking at a very, very early pitch for what would eventually become Sonic Riders. All of the basics of Sonic Riders seem to be in place, though this “Sonic Extreme” game seems to share a great deal more in common with Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater at this stage in development. ProtonX promises a second, improved video when he can get a friend to hold the camera steady.
Thanks to SegaLogo on the Sonic Retro forum for the heads up.
Update: ProtonX has released the second video, showing the Devkit Launcher with a number of other installed games, plus sound.
Update 2: ProtonX has uploaded a third video showing a 2 player battle mode.
Loading ...
Tony hawk’s blue skater:)
both Sonic’s design and the framerate look too “new” for Sonic Riders tho dontcha think?
@FoxBoy What does the framerate have to do with anything?
Dude, that looks awesome, I wanna play it.
@FoxBoy: I also thought Sonic’s model looked a bit too good for that generation of consoles, but if this is indeed real then it has to be from 2005 at the latest since it uses Ryan Drummond voice clips for Sonic (which is totally EPIC, by the way!).
Oh, back to sonic’s GOOD model. Nice.
…Strangely do want.
that is either tony hawk pro skater 3 or 4. i forgot the levels exactly but it has to be one of them.
What a cool find. The gameplay and the mechanics shown in the video look more decent than the platforming abilities found in Sonic ’06. The model does look surprisingly good for that generation, but I also doubt it’s homebrew. If it is, surely the creator would be wise to step up and take credit(with proof of course..).
Bored dev + Xbox devkit = Sonic Pro Skater.
Would be better if Sonic could go faster, otherwise it’s just Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater with Sonic in it.
the hell did this come from?
Jesus this looks horrible.
Somebody phone Tony Hawk and tell him that Sonic jacked his board….again….again…what is this like…the 4th time he stole his board?…Not to mention all the snowboarding things he’s done…what is it with Sonic and his fascination for boards? I say he take a lesson from Shadow and use that board for something good…hitting people…I’d pay good money to see Sonic beat up Eggman’s/Robotnik’s latest “greatest” creation with a skateboard…and it would probably fit with Sonic’s new voice too…lol but that’s just me I guess…
It actually reminds me more of Sega’s Top Skater arcade game than anything else, from a physics and mechanical standpoint.
-T
Don’t be silly, DaleSaxon.
Have you played any of the new Tony Hawks?
He obviously stole Sonic’s linear on-rails gameplay.
Anybody notice that that’s the model from Sonic heroes? You can also see Seaside Hill as well . .
Not to mention voice clips and music are from Sonic Heroes after watching the second video : / This could be fake. Then again, maybe not.
Sorry for triple-posting, but nevermind. Music is from Sonic Adventure. But the voice clips are definitely from Sonic Heroes. ^^;
I’ll take 5 please.
@BrandonTH
You think they would waste money bringing in voice actors to do VO for a pitch? If this was officially produced by Sega, it was probably done by an extremely small team (10 people or less) with basically zero budget. Of course they’d re-use whatever was available to them to save time and effort.
I’m pretty sure this is based on the “sliding down the street” segment of Sonic Adventure 2. Those poses look exactly the same as him on the board in SA2.
The sounds also don’t sound completely appropriate somehow too, leading me to think they were taken from elsewhere. And of course the music is the same as SA2′s street riding scene.
@Ryan Bloom
The frame rate has plenty to do with it when you consider how their frame rate has been and how it was changing over the games during that time. It makes this game stand out too much.
@Hope
Using Ryan Drummond voice clips doesn’t mean anything. Sonic Riders used Deem Bristow voice clips during Eggman’s gameplay (or at least character selection).
Oh well. Whatever it is, it’s kinda cool. lol
And who’s that saying Sonic stole Tony Hawk’s board just because he used a board a few times? Is Sonic not allowed to snowboard, skateboard and hoverboard or something? wtf? lol
@Ryan Bloom:
Ha! No. Of course Sega’s not like that to hire someone new. XD And since this is a prototype, it only makes sense that they’d re-use voice clips from previous games. The time this game was made, though points to a tad earlier than Sonic Riders, using the Sonic Heroes model(odd how they chose Sonic Adventure music, though : / ). I’m getting some phony vibes from this, but that’s just me. I’ve played Tony Hawk pro skater and the physics from this “prototype” seem very similar to the physics from that game. Not to mention the same skateboarding sound effects. If it is a prototype, I doubt it was for Sonic riders. The only resemblance it bears to Sonic Riders is that Sonic is on a board. That being said, a SKATEboard. By this point (Sonic Riders), the Ryan Drummond had already been replaced by Jason Griffith, meaning voice clips from Sonic Heroes are outdated. I could be wrong. This might be genuine, but it doesn’t seem likely. . .
@BrandonTH
Thank you! Seriously, where’s this Sonic Riders thing coming from? Is this even in the slightest bit like Sonic Riders other than sonic being on a board? This isn’t a hoverboard, they’re using Heroes/ShadowTH models, the textures look BETTER than Riders, it has Sonic and Shadow in multiplayer and Shadow’s not even in the story of Riders, they not only reused clips of Ryan but for both Sonic AND Shadow, the gameplay is completely different, the music is from SA2 and the level design is from Sonic Heroes!
If anything, this looks like a party game almost like the Sega Superstars/All-Stars series but with just Sonic. XD
PS:
I really hate those models. The Heroes models where the first time I started finding Sonic’s design to be off. It’s like the first of Modern Sonic’s designs. lol Extremely tiny rectangular torso with skinny as hell arms and legs (long arms too) and the hair is HUGE but the worst of it is how it flows like jello and is positioned totally different. It doesn’t like like buzz-saw blades anymore it looks like 3 floppy hair spikes above 3 other floppy hair spikes. Since when did Sonic’s hair expand horizontally rather than vertically? It makes his head look fat, especially when it’s the size of his entire body neck down.
Not meaning to nitpick, it just looks really lazy and sloppy to me. Maybe it’s an artist ocd thing idk. XD
…..are you serious with that headline Tristan?
You actually had to ask?
…I just don’t even. Looks absolutely terrible.
@FoxBoy
Uh…? To be honest, we can’t actually tell what framerate this game is running at. Sonic Colors and Sonic Unleashed ran at 30fps, but Youtube also CAPS at 30fps so this game could be running at 60fps and we’d never know. Regardless, none of that matters given that this could be a pitch game – that means pre-alpha state.
@BrandonTH
I don’t even mean hire somebody new. I mean hire somebody at all. They’re not going to bring Ryan Drummond in to record dialog for a game that isn’t even a game yet.
Okay, look, let’s back up and clearly explain how game development goes at most publishers like Sega.
First, somebody within the company has an idea. Now, they can’t just run off and make that idea. They have to think that idea out enough to create a pitch – a pitch can be a design document, a pre-rendered video of what gameplay might eventually look like, or even a simplistic playable demo – think of it like a rough sketch. At this point, anything it takes to create a pitch is being paid for by the guy who has the idea (which, as you can imagine, is about as close to $0 as they can manage). They then submit their pitch to the higher ups at the company, and if its well received, the guy with the idea gets funding to hire a team and get to work.
Sometimes, the publisher will approach a developer with an idea and the developer is required to come up with a pitch for that idea. For instance, Sega could approach a form a small team within the company and say, “Give us an Extreme Sports game starring Sonic, because extreme sports games are popular.” If the team does well enough, they are granted funding and can proceed fleshing their demo out and making it in to a full game.
You have to understand that it costs money to create new content. You have to hire a sound engineer to create new sound effects, new music, new voice files – you have to hire texture artists, 3D modelers, level designers… if you don’t yet have funding for your game project, you’re going to re-use as much as possible from what’s already been made available.
Do you see what I’m saying?
I~nteresting…
Weird. The back of Sonic looks like Sonic Unleashed PS2, but the front looks like Sonic Heroes. Reused Ryan Drummond voice clips, terrible camera, basic gameplay. Not to mention City Escape music used in a Green Hill-like stage. What a weird but interesting game.
i like how people will criticize the shit out of stuff like Generations and Sonic 4, yet when something like this comes along, they defend it…………………………………………………………………………..lolwut?
@Foxboy: It’s okay. I wasn’t exactly a fan of the Sonic Heroes model, either. XD But I looked past it and just saw Sonic as Sonic. : )
@Ryan Bloom: Well, yeah. I know how it all works :p But that doesn’t mean I agree that this is a Sonic Riders prototype. I mean. As I said before, the only resemblance it bears to Sonic Riders is the fact that Sonic is riding a board. And nothing more. Plus the physics are closer to Tony Hawk Pro Skater than any Sonic game I’ve ever known. Could be fake. But you have your oppinion and I have mine. None the wiser. Neither of us made it, so I guess we won’t be able to tell for certain. . .
Neat! Now I just need to wait for the ISO to be released…
@Ryan Bloom
You’re right we can’t tell the framerate of the game through the video. but as good as it is through the video it’s probably better in person, and being that good is a bit.. well it’s kinda off considering the frame-rate transition throughout the games from SA2 to Sonic Riders. XD But I GUESS it could be a spin-off game. But like you said, it’s probably an alpha/beta, which is WHY I pointed out the frame-rate. Usually the alpha-betas have cheaper frame-rate big time. Sonic 06 was and so was Sonic Unleashed. (compared to the final product) Anyhoo, you’re probably right still. XD
@darkgomugomu
Um, there’s hardly anyone criticizing Generations. lol There’s some people, but they’re a VERY small minority. xD People probably defend this for never coming out and for being in-complete anyways and being a game we never saw or knew about. The same goes for fan-games. People SAY fangames are done better than the real ones now. No. They’re just GOOD for fangame standards while the real games don’t meet the expectations people have for a professional game. *shrugs*
@BrandonTH
I did too. I saw Sonic as just Sonic. I’m just saying he had nothing “cool” to offer in his design so I don’t really like it. I never said I’d hate the model where it’d bother me, just it didn’t necessarily please me either. =p
Haru: I didn’t write the story. =)
-T
looks bad
darkgomugomu: Interesting isn’t it?
This looks interesting. It seems a lot less on-rails than Riders does. But then, I never played Riders so I wouldn’t know.
I noticed two strange things…
1. Sonic AND Shadow are voiced by Ryan Drummond
2.There is no gold buckle on Sonic’s shoe…
Like i said Tony hawk’s blue skater
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1QOsxMguZkU a 4th one
Time to solve the mystery for everyone…. Vision Scape Interactive, Inc. dba Heavy Water provided Sega with the Sonic Heroes cinematics. At that time, the studio was also in development on a few “skateboard” type games (yes, using the same Tonk Hawk influenced controls)… the Chief Creative/President, Matt McDonald, had a “brilliant” idea and created the demo of Sonic Extreme (Sonic and friends on a Hoverboard) in hopes that Sega would move forward with the game… Apparently, they loved it so much, they created Sonic Riders internally without the VSI’s involvement.
Gamegirl – Check your E-Mail.
-T
Gamegirl I don’t believe you but nice try though.
Anyway If it has Ryan Drummond’s VA then this could’ve been a early version of sonic riders like maybe the game was in devolopment before they even hired the 4kids VA or this could’ve been a early tech demo for Sonic Riders. But i don’t think it’s homebrew because homebrew is for Wii,
This is so damn cool ^^
Theres a bunch more videos up
Hey, the latest video the guy uploaded is pretty much the same thing but with characters and music NOT from Sonic!
Does this mean anything to you guys? Maybe it wasn’t supposed to be a Sonic game at all! And definately not a pitch for Sonic Riders!
I was curious about all this, so I sent an email to Vision Scape (which is now called Heavy Water) asking them if they remembered anything about the game. I got a prompt reply from the CEO of the company, who proceeded to tell me some juicy tidbits that basically confirmed most of the speculation. Here’s what happened:
Vision Scape had the Sonic Heroes XBOX assets after being commissioned by Sega to do the in-game cutscenes for them. Using the Sonic assets and some code from their skateboard games, Vision Scape threw together “Sonic Extreme” without Sega’s knowledge, intending to present it to them as a concept pitch for a game. But when SOJ saw the demo, they thought that Vision Scape made a complete Sonic game without their permission, panicked, and refused to talk with Vision Scape any further. A few years later, Sonic Riders was released.
TL;DR:
It was a pitch for a game that Sega ignored, and which probably served as inspiration for Sonic Riders.
Well now, that’s interesting. Thanks for the effort Sonikku, certainly…put my mind at ease, if you will. This is pretty disappointing though. I was a HUGE fan of the Tony Hawks games, just as I am of Sonic, so seeing this be made into a full game might have been pretty darn good. Plus the fact that I’m not that big of a fan of Sonic Riders…